Pence Meets Senate GOP Before House Vote on Emergency

Vice President Mike Pence and Justice Department officials will huddle with Senate Republicans on Tuesday about President Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration ahead of a House vote expected to shoot it down, The Hill reported.

Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said the session will take place at a closed-door caucus lunch; Pence, as the president of the Senate, regularly attends the lunches, The Hill noted.

The meeting comes ahead of a vote in the Democratic-majority House to block Trump’s declaration. Its expected passage sends the fight to the Senate, where Democrats need to flip four Republicans.

Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, are believed to oppose the declaration, while Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said Monday he is “moving closer” to a decision and Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., has called it “unnecessary, unwise and inconsistent with the Constitution,” The Hill reported.

“We’ve got somebody from the Justice Department and the Vice President coming up at lunch [Tuesday] to talk about it, so we’ll all know maybe more tomorrow than we know today,” Sen. Blunt said, The Hill reported.

Blunt did not know if the administration is focusing on any particular funding sources to use as part of the emergency declaration but predicted the topic would come up during the lunch.